Universal rolling mill



Feb. 24, 1970 J. w. OBRIEN 9 UNIVERSAL ROLLING MILL FilecLMarchl5, 1967 -3 Sheets-Sheet l 14/. OER/E ATTORNEK Feb. 24, 1970 J. w. OBRIEN uhvERsAL ROLLING MILL 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 15, 1967 R m m m 147' 7' ORA/EV.

Feb. 24., 3970 J. w. OBRIEN 3,496,750

UNIVERSAL ROLLING MILL Filed March 15, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR. JEQMM/a 14/. 029/5 ATTOR/VfK United States Patent m 3,496,750 UNIVERSAL ROLLING MILL Jeremiah Wagner OBrien, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Mar. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 623,382 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 17, 1966, 11,864/ 6 6 Int. Cl. B211) 31/00 US. Cl. 72-237 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a universal rolling mill employed to process metallic workpieces, such as, plates, slabs, strip and the like and, more particularly, to such a universal rolling mill constructed in an improved manner to reduce roll deflection and, hence, improve the quality of the processed workpiece.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In a universal mill and, particularly for example, a universal plate mill, there is provided cooperative horizontal rolls having bearing chock assemblies received on their ends that are in turn sup-ported in a pair of spaced-apart housings. Mounted between these housings and supported thereby are bearing chock assemblies mounted on the ends of a pair of vertically disposed rolls. Of necessity, the vertical rolls are offset relative to the horizontal rolls so that as to any one portion of the plate, the horizontal sides and the vertical sides of the plate are not rolled simultaneously. In certain instances the mill may include backup rolls for the horizontal rolls and there may be provided two pairs of vertical rolls, a pair arranged at both sides of the horizontal rolls.

Since the deflection of the horizontal rolls between their bearings results in non-uniform cross-sectional rolled plate, it is highly desirable to maintain the distance between the bearings as small as possible. This is particularly advantageous in instances where these rolls are substantially long, such as in a mill adapted to roll very wide plate, say of the order of 160 to 200 inches.

The inherent disadvantages caused by a deflection of the rolls relative to variation in gauge of the plate becomes more acute in universal plate mills of the type presently employed, since the housings must be spaced at a greater distance than otherwise required in order to make provisions for the vertical rolls. Such a mill arrangement not only requires the horizontal rolls to be made longer than actually required to roll a plate of a given width, but, more importantly, as noted previously, it allows an increase in roll deflection which results in increased non-uniformity of the product.

With this in mind it a principal object of the present invention to provide a universal rolling mill construction, such as adapted to roll plate, having a pair of horizontal and a pair of vertical rolls, wherein the distance between the housings of the mill is maintained at the very minimum, thereby allowing minimum length rolls to be employed and roll deflection kept as small as possible.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a universal rolling mill having a pair of novel L-shaped horizontal roll housings arranged for supporting at least a pair of horizontally arranged rolls, said housings cooperating with and forming part of vertical roll housings for supporting a pair of vertically arranged rolls.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide in a universal rolling mill a pair of L-shaped 3,496,759 Patented Feb. 24, 1970 roll housings for supporting a pair of horizontal roll chocks which housings are constructed and arranged so as to provide recesses that receive and support a pair of vertical roll chocks in a manner that one chock of each pair is contained in a common plane.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a universal rolling mill having a pair of housings, said housings having first opposed portions spaced at a first distance for supporting the chocks of a cooperative pair of vertical rolls, said housings having second opposed portions spaced at a second distance smaller than the first distance and approximating the maximum width of the workpiece to be rolled, windows formed in said second opposed portions of said housings, a pair of cooperative horizontal rolls, bearing chock assemblies mounted on the end of horizontal rolls and received in said windows, and means provided between said housings engageable by the bearing chocks of said horizontal rolls for receiving the separating force developed by said rolls.

According to one embodiment of the present invention there is provided a universal rolling mill comprising a pair of housings, each having a first part arranged at a spaced-apart predetermined distance, said housings having a second part, each of said second parts of said housings formed with windows, window extensions projecting towards each housing, the construction being such that the distance between the adjacent ends of said window extensions is less than said predetermined distance and approximately equal to the maximum width workpiece to be rolled, upper and lower horizontally disposed rolls, bearing chock assembly carried by each end of said rolls and positioned in said window extensions, upper and lower separator means rigidly interconnecting said housings, said lower separator engageable with the bearing chocks of said lower roll, roll adjusting means carried by said upper separator engageable with the bearing chocks of said upper roll for adjusting said up per roll relative to said lower roll, a pair of vertically disposed rolls'for each housing, bearing chock assemblies carried at each end of said vertical rolls and supported by said first housing parts.

These objects, as well as the various other novel feature and advantages of the invention, will become more apparent when the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of a rolling mill embodying the features of the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the mill illustrated in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along lines III- III of FIGURE 2.

With reference first to FIGURES 1 and 2; there is illustrated a universal rolling mill including two spacedapart housings 11 and 12 having windows 13 and 14 formed therein. These housings are supported by bedplates 15 at a spaced-apart distance X from each other as indicated in FIGURE 1. This distance is maintained constant by providing upper and lower separator beams 16 and 17 that are positioned between the housings and rigidly interconnect them by means of arms 18 and 19 that project from each end of the respective separators and extend through the window openings 13 and 14. With particular reference now to the housings 11 and 12 and FIGURES 1 and 3, it will be noted that each of these housings have horizontally projecting extensions 21 and 22 that extend toward each other and form part of an L-shaped housing configuration seen best in FIG- URE 3. These extensions in a vertical plane extend the entire height of the windows and form a continuation of the windows 13 and 14. Liners 23 and 24 are secured to the opposed surfaces of each extension 21 and 22 for receiving and vertically guiding upper and lower backup roll chocks 25 and 26, which rotatably support upper and lower backup rolls 27 and 28 that have been constructed with a length closely coincident with the maximum width of the product to be rolled. In this respect, it will be observed that a distance Y shown in FIGURES 1 and 3 represents the distance between the center lines of the bearing chock assemblies 25 and 26 and that the distance Y is substantially less than the distance X which represents the distance between the housings as previously identified.

The backup rolls 27 and 28 support work rolls 29 and 31, respectively, which have bearing chock assemblies 32 and 33, the assembly 32 being received in downwardly extending legs 34 of the upper backup chock 25 while the lower work roll bearing chock assembly 33 is received in and supported by housing projections 35. Arranged between the work roll chocks 32 and 33 and received by the latter are balance cylinder assemblies 36 that balance the weight of the upper work roll. The upper backup roll chock 25 has hooks 37 formed at the top thereof which are engaged by similarly formed hooks 38 of carrier arms 39 that form part of an overhead roll balance system, only partly shown in the drawings.

Turning now again to FIGURE 1, there is shown one screw 41 that forms part of two identical screwdown assemblies for each housing and which engage the upper backup chock 25 for adjusting the upper backup roll 27 and work roll 29 relative to the lower work roll 31. The screw 41 is received in a threaded nut 42 that is held against rotation in the upper separator beam 16. While not specifically shown in the drawing, the screw is connected by suitable gearing to a motor by which the screw is rotated. It is to be pointed out that by the above construction the screw 41 of each screwdown assembly is also positioned the distance Y from each other so as to engage the chocks 25 of the upper backup roll. The lower backup roll chocks 26 have rocker plates 43 which engage similar plates 44 carried by the lower separator beam 17. In this manner the rolls that comprise the horizontal mill are constructed with a working body face width closely approximating the maximum width of product being rolled in the mill. As previously noted, this not only results in a saving in the cost of the horizontal rolls, but, more important, it allows the deflection of the rolls to be kept at a minimum.

As previously mentioned, the rolling mill illustrated in the drawings is a universal mill and the illustrated embodiment has identical pairs of vertical rolls positioned at both sides of the horizontal rolls. It is to be pointed out that in certain instances it may be desirable to employ only one pair of vertical rolls which may be accomplished without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Since the pairs of vertical rolls are identical, a description will be given of only the pair illustrated in the righthand side as one views FIGURE 2, which has been identified as vertical rolls 45 and 46. With reference to FIGURE 3, it will be noted that these rolls have bearing chock assemblies 47 and 48 carried on the ends of the respective rolls. The chocks are adjustably engaged by power-driven screws 49 and 51 that are threadably received in projecting housing wings 52 and 53 that extend horizontally from the housings 11 and 12 as shown in FIGURE 3. Upper and lower tension bars 54 and 55 interconnect the outer ends of the housing wings 52 and 53 and serve to slidably carry the chocks of the vertical rolls during the rolling operation, in addition to stiffenint the housings 11 and 12.

The vertical rolls are connected to spindles 56 which transmit torque to the rolls from a horizontally arranged drive shaft 57 through bevel gears 58 and 59.

Thus, it will be appreciated that a universal rolling mill constructed in accordance with the present invention enables the use of horizontal rolls having a length closely approximating the maximum width of the product being rolled resulting in saving in roll cost and less roll deflection of the horizontal rolls. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the illustrated embodiment of the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim: 1. In a universal rolling mill comprising: a pair of spaced-apart vertically extending housings, at least a part of the vertical portion of each housing having an L-shaped cross section, in which the base portions thereof extend in a direction towards and perpendicular to a pass line of the mill and the open sides thereof are adjacent the pass line and oppose each other, windows in said housings for receiving bearing chock assemblies arranged on the opposite ends of and for supporting a pair of horizontal rolls, the vertical sides of the windows being formed by said base portions, bearing chock assemblies for a pair of vertical rolls received in each said open sides of said housings and supported by said housings in a manner that the bearing chock assemblies of one of said vertical rolls fall within a plane containing the bearing chock assemblies on one end of the horizontal rolls and the bearing chock assemblies of the other vertical roll fall within a plane containing the bearing chock assemblies on the other end of the horizontal rolls in which said planes are parallel to the pass line of the mill, and each of said open sides of the housings extended a distance sufiicient to circumscribe a substantial portion of a different one of said vertical rolls. 2. In a universal rolling mill comprising: a pair of spaced-apart housings, said housings having first spaced-apart portions arranged opposite each other at a first distance relative to a pass line of the mill for supporting bearing chock assemblies of a cooperative pair of vertical rolls, said housings having second portions arranged inward of said first portion with respect to the mill pass line, windows formed in said second portions of said housings for receiving bearing chock assemblies for a pair of horizontal rolls, and means arranged between said pair of housings engageable by the bearing chock assemblies of said horizon tal rolls for resisting the separating force developed by said rolls. 3. In a universal rolling mill comprising: a pair of spaced-apart housings, each housing having two first parts arranged opposite the similar parts of the other housing relative to the mill pass line, each housing having second parts arranged inward of said first parts of the housings with respect to the mill pass line and forming the windows of said housings, the construction being such that the distance between the corresponding second parts of said housings is approximately equal to the maximum width workpiece to be rolled, bearing chock assemblies received in said windows for a pair of horizontal rolls, upper and lower separator means rigidly interconnecting said housings, said lower separator engageable with the bearing chock assemblies of said lower roll,

roll adjusting means carried by said upper separator engageable with the bearing chock assemblies of said upper roll for adjusting said upper roll relative to said lower roll,

a pair of vertically disposed rolls for each housing arranged on opposite sides of said horizontal rolls, and

bearing chock assemblies carried at each end of said vertical rolls and rotatably supported by said first housing parts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner B. J. MUSTAIKIS, Assistant Examiner 

